Scarcity of future fish populations

My research and teaching in marine ecology is shaped by a strong interest in human impacts on marine species and ecosystems and their consequences for the ocean and society. Human activities such as fishing and hunting, habitat transformation, and nutrient loading have affected marine resources and shaped their ecosystems for millennia but strongly accelerated over the past two to three centuries.

This long-term history of change is often ignored in the study and management of today’s ecosystems. However, historical baselines and estimates of the total magnitude of change are essential to judge the current state of degradation and develop meaningful management and conservation goals. Past trends are also necessary to develop future projections. Human impacts not only accelerated over time but also expanded from inshore regions to the open ocean and the deep sea causing large-scale patterns of changes in diversity and community structure around the globe.

Finally, human impacts multiplied throughout history and today, most species and ecosystem are affected by the cumulative effects of multiple human activities that don’t act in isolation.

In my work, I try to reconstruct the long-term history of human-induced changes in marine species and ecosystems, to disentangle the cumulative effects of multiple human activities, and to analyze the consequences of changes on the structure and functioning of ecosystems. I use a multi-disciplinary approach integrating data from paleontology, archaeology, history, fisheries science, and ecology, and a combination of field and laboratory experiments and surveys, literature studies, and the analysis of large data sets.

Education  

• 1998, Ph.D. University of Kiel
• 1994, MSc, University of Kiel, Germany 
• 1989 ‘Vordiplom’ degree, University of  Göttingen
  
  

Affiliations 

• 2010, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, visiting researcher
• 2009, DFO Science Review university scientist
  2007-2009, NCEAS working group member
• 2007-2008, SCOPE-SCOR-UNECSO working group member
• 2007-2008, U.S. EPA working group member
• 2005-2010, Co-Leader FMAP Project, Census of Marine Life
• 2003-06, NCEAS working group member
• 2003-05, Project leader HMAP Wadden Sea Project
• 2003-05, Steering Group member HMAP North and Baltic Sea Project, Census of Marine Life
• 2002-04, NCEAS working group member
• 2000-present, Scientific advisor for Conservation Council of New Brunswick and World Wildlife Fund Canada

Publications

42 international journal articles; 9 book chapters; 17 other publications

Research presentations

 34 invited talks

Website
Personal web page

E-mail: Heike Lotze